Professor Tim Benton
Research Director; Director, Environment and Society Centre
Biography
Professor Tim G. Benton leads the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House. He joined the institute in 2016 as a distinguished visiting fellow, at which time he was also dean of strategic research initiatives at the University of Leeds.
From 2011 until 2016, he was the ‘champion’ of the UK’s Global Food Security programme which was a multi-agency partnership of the UK’s public bodies (government departments, devolved governments and research councils) with an interest in the challenges around food.
He has worked with UK governments, the EU and G20. He has been a global agenda steward of the World Economic Forum, and is an author of the IPCC’s Special Report on Food, Land and Climate (2019), and the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment (2017, 2022).
He has published more than 150 academic papers, many tackling how systems respond to environmental change. His work on sustainability leadership has been recognized with an honorary fellowship of the UK’s Society for the Environment, and a doctorate honoris causa from the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium.
Past experience
| 2016-19 | Distinguished visiting fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources, Chatham House |
| 2016-19 | Dean for strategic research initiatives, University of Leeds |
| 2011-16 | Champion, UK’s Global Security Programme |
| 2008-11 | Pro-dean for research, Faculty of Biological Science, University of Leeds |
| 2005-08 | Head of institute, University of Leeds and Professor of ecology |
| 2003-05 | Senior lecturer, University of Aberdeen |
| 1996-2003 | Lecturer and senior lecturer, University of Stirling |
| 1994-96 | Editor, Popular Science, Cambridge University Press |
| 1992-94 | Researcher, University of East Anglia |
| 1990-92 | Hon fellow, zoology, University of Cambridge |
| 1986-90 | PhD, University of Cambridge |
| 1983-86 | BA, University of Oxford |
